Just Another Assassin
by notbettydraper
Summary: Tiva Angst. Tony finds a one-way plane ticket to Israel for Ziva. He isn't happy. Strong T for language as in ‘I drop the f-bomb a frak load.’. Possible spoilers but mainly speculation. Enjoy! :D
1. Chapter 1

11:17

Just Another Assassin

Tony/Ziva ANGST.

Spoilers: Possible for end of season, aka, my speculations. Various flashbacks.

Rating: Strong T for language as in 'I drop the f-bomb a frak load.'

_Fuck._

That was all he could think.

_Fuck._

He was royally pissed. Royally as in, 'so pissed he was ready to kill the Queen of freaking ENGLAND even though she had nothing to do with this'.

---

"Tony!" Ziva called. "Tony! Come get back here, we need to talk!"

"What, ZIva, what do we need to talk about? How, oh, I don't know, you were going to leave without telling me? How I was going to be left here not knowing what the fuck had happened to you when I come back in tomorrow?" He was furious, completely furious. He'd found a plane ticket to Israel, a **one-way** plane ticket to Israel. For Ziva.

"Because it was easier Tony, because this way I wouldn't have to face you, to tell you that I was leaving. I honestly didn't want to be the one to tell you!"

"Why Ziva?" He demanded. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Because I—" She turned around and stormed off, her hair flowing behind her as her hips swayed with the steady beats of her heels against the concrete of the car park.

_Fuck._

"Ziva! Ziva!" He ran after her. He ran until he was a step behind her and grabbed her by the hand. "Ziva, why the fuck wouldn't you tell me?"

"I—Because, Tony, I am Mossad, a professional. I don't let my feeling interfere with my work." She spat.

"What feelings Ziva? Since when have you felt anything, for anyone!" He knew he shouldn't have said it, he didn't even believe his own statement.

She looked at him, just looked. She watched every move he made, but he didn't, his gaze stayed locked on her eyes.

She walked, she walked away from him, once again letting her heels smack against the cold concrete as she almost ran to her car.

"Zi-Ziva" He once again ran after her. He grabbed her hand. "Zi—"

Within a moment she had him pinned to the ground. "Touch me once more and I swear Tony, you will regret it." She relinquished her grip and left him there as she walked the last few feet to her car.

---

_Fuck._

That was all she could think.

She snatched the rubber band off of the counter and tied her hair in the tightest bun imaginable.

She was an idiot. Really she was. She accepted and knew that. She just wished she'd realized it earlier so that she didn't have to admit it to everyone else.

_Fuck._

_---_

He'd left thirty-seven messages…actually he hadn't, he'd almost left thirty-seven messages but had chickened out when he heard the _beep_ that re-directed him to voicemail. He'd tried to think of an apology, he'd been scared. He hadn't been thinking.

---

Neither had she.

---

Ziva David had never 'broken down' in her adult life and she wanted to keep that record clean. This was one of those times when she was, even in only her own company, too proud to let any emotion show. Yes, she was Mossad, and, yes, she was a professional, but despite all of that she had let her feelings interfere with her work. Many times.

"_Gunshot goes off, I see you—"_

She was tired of pretending that she was an emotionless shell, she had been alone for so long she had trouble opening up to people. She had a family now and she still was unable to open up to any of them, even Abby. She hadn't told any of them about her plans to move back to Israel and she wasn't planning to. She knew that she would not be able to face them; she knew that she would not be able to handle their reaction, whether it was that they were sad, or if they were glad that she was leaving. She had hoped with all of her heart that she could stay; late at night when she couldn't sleep she would think of her family and how they were all going to grow old together or some other cliché. She knew that this wouldn't happen, she knew that she had to runaway, leave everything behind and just forget all of them, until she was, once again, an organism, a shell of a person, just another assassin.

---

It was two thirty am and Tony could not sleep. He had been home since nine and had been icing his lower back and ankles until he went to best at one.

He was an idiot. Really he was. He accepted and knew that. He just wished 'd realized it earlier so that didn't have to admit it to everyone else.

He was an idiot for not realizing it earlier.

---

It was three am when Ziva's doorbell went off. She could act like she was asleep and not pick up. _What if they have a key?_ Well why would they be ringing in the first place? _To be polite?_ Who the fuck thinks ringing a doorbell at three in the morning is polite? _Tony?_ Fuck.

She got up and went to the phone. Picking it up she heard the ever-familiar voice of one Anthony DiNozzo.

"Why didn't you tell me Ziva? We're partners."

"Well, maybe, just maybe, I did not want you to know everything about my life Tony!"

"I—"

"You know what Tony, forget it! I'm leaving and that is all you need to know."

"Zi—"

She hung up.

---

After three hours sleep Ziva awoke to the sound of traffic, as per usual, but today it was different, this would be the last morning that she would wake to blaring horns and screeching tires.

Ziva had a total of fourteen hours until she would be on a plane back to Israel. Fourteen hours to be ready to leave behind another life and restart her old one as an assassin. Fourteen hours to say good riddance to everyone she knew, to sever any connection she had made, to erase any trace or footprint.

---

Ziva walked into her kitchen and checked her voicemail.

_You have two new messages._

"_Message one. Message received today at five thirteen am._

_--Ziva, please, just hear me out. You are my partner, I care about you, hell, everyone at NCIS does, and I'm not saying that they care about you any less then I do but you are my partner after all. Please, please re-consider going back. You have a family here, and we care about you more than anyone else could. Everyday you risk your life to keep us safe, you—you have saved me more times than I could count and one day once I figure out that number, I'm going to strive to save you that many times._

_I know that I shouldn't have come by this morning but—I—I couldn't just let you leave, no one wants you to go. None of us. And if you do go you'll leave m—us heartbroken, w—we love you, honestly and if it weren't for you I think we all would still be down about Kate. You are the strongest person that I, let alone the rest of us, know. You have faced death and mayhem, and you still carry on with your life. You changed us, all of us. You filled a void that none of us thought could be filled and if you leave now, or ever, I--we'll never, never, be able to get over it. You have been to large a part of m—our lives and we all need you so badly, I honestly don't know where I'd be without you Ziva I never thought that someo--._

_BEEP._

_Message two. Message received today at five sixteen am._

_--arg. Fucking message bank! I—as I was saying, we never thought that someone would be able to take over from Kate, we were obviously wrong._

_Ziva, just remember that you have a family, and no matter how much you may want to run away, you can't because, a, we have the materials and techniques to track you down. And b, we all love you too much to stop looking._

_BEEP."_

---

Ziva took out her gun. It was the only thing that she could do at a time like this. She walked into the lounge room and opened a drawer that contained a piece of paper. She set her gun down and headed over to another and pulled out a set of brushes and cleaners. She set all of this down next to the paper and slowly disassembled her weapon.

As she let the stiff brush caress the black metal she thought of her family and, as much as she didn't want to at this time, how much she loved them. She had a father, a real father, one that took care of her, not one that sent her to another country at the drop of a hat. She had had a mother, She had looked after her so well, when Ziva had been having a bad day she would be called up to Jen's office to talk and this had always made her feel better. She had a sister, and a best friend, who she had trusted implicitly and had messed around with and who she loved so much. She also had a brother, but he was more like a little brother that she would tease but at the end of the day he knew that she loved him. And then she had Tony; if she thought about anyone in her family the way she did Tony there were some serious issues there.

Tony was always different in her eyes, he'd never really fitted into that 'family' category, he was always the outsider, he was always the first thing that Ziva would think about in the morning and the last that she would think about at night.

---

Ziva reassembled her gun and walked back into her bedroom. Setting it down on the bedside table, she walked over to her wardrobe and retrieved her suitcase. It was still half-packed from the last time she was sent back. She was always ready after that.

She pulled the clothes out of it and laid them out on the floor, looking over them to see if they were necessary to take back again. She sifted through pairs of cargo's combat boots and t-shirts until she reached the bottom, lying there, folded and torn was a dress. Not just any dress but a backless dress that she had worn the night that the hotel she was performing at, undercover of course, had been bombed. She chuckled as she thought of what Tony's reaction would be if he had seen her wear it. She laid the dress out on her bed and straightened it out. There were many jagged cuts on it from shrapnel and still some small flecks of blood that she had not managed to get out of it. After that night her team, her family, had flown her home.

She started re-packing her suitcase hen the phone rang.

"Officer David." She waited for a reply. "Hello? Tony?" She waited again then hung up the phone. She walked over to the window hoping to find a familiar face or vehicle outside but she found neither.

---

'_You chicken. You fucking chicken!'_ He thought as he walked back into his apartment. He set down his keys and flopped onto his couch. He switched on his TV and, as if on cue, the phone rang.

"Speci—"

"Tony! Who do you think you are coming to my apartment first thing in the morning!"

"Your partner!" She went silent. _Your partner._ "Your friend, or at least I thought I was."

"Well, y-you thought wrong Tony." She said coolly, _since when has severing connections been so damn hard_. Tony sighed and Ziva could feel her heart breaking, although she'd never admit it. She hung up.

---

"Tony! Tony!" It was Abby, she was running towards him from the lift with mascara streaming down he cheeks. "Tony!" He ran back towards her, arms open and she gratefully accepted his embrace. "Tony, why didn't she tell us? Why, we're her friends, we love her, you love her." He refrained from correcting her, even though she was right.

"I-I don't know Abbs, I don't know." She buried her face in his shirt and clung onto him like a little girl to her daddy when he moves out.

"But why would she even agree to go Tony? Why would she leave us?" She started crying harder than before, he held on tighter and put his lips close to her ear and whispered, "I don't know that either Abby. I-I don't even think I know her anymore."

---

Ziva heard the phone ring from her bedroom but ignored it. _Probably just Tony again._ She continued folding her clothes into her suitcase. She had washed, dried and ironed basically every piece of clothing she owned and now she was folding and placing them into her suitcase, ready to leave at seven thirty for her ten pm flight. Ziva's mobile went off, it was Abby.

_Shit._

She answered it.

"Abby, I'm so—"

"Ziva! Why are you leaving?" she heard through Abby's tears. "Wh-Wh-Why? How?" She heard the phone crackle after a smash. Ziva knew what had happened.

"Ziva, it's Tony" _Obviously._ She could still hear Abby in the background and a loud flatulent noise that had come from Bert.

"Tony, please stop, just, leave me be."

"I'm not letting you go Ziva, I'll come to that airport and stop that plane saying that you are a suspected criminal if I have to!"

"Tony, this is for my job. I have to go back." She hissed.

"No Ziva, NCIS is your job and it has been for almost four years!"

"Tony," she started," I am Mossad, not NCIS, I am their assassin, I am disposable."

"You're **my** assassin Ziva, you're **my** partner, you're **my** friend and I am not letting you go back just so you can be another disposable assassin!" She heard Abby cry again and knew that he wouldn't let her be.

"Tony, I am leaving and that is final. Good bye." She snapped her phone shut, ending the call.

"Shit." She muttered.

---

A/N: Okay I know it was a weird place to finish but I ran out of juice (both literally and metaphorically). This was my first ever NCIS fic and I quite like it for some reason. Angst is good….mmmmm angst….

_**SPOILERS**_

I think Ziva is leaving after putting all of the spoilers together. I love her and I don't want her to leave!!!!!

_**SPOILERS**_

Please tell me if they were IC I really appreciate it! :D


	2. Chapter 2

24/04/09 11:03 PM

A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, I've been really sick and nocturnal so I really have had more time to write but I just haven't really had the strength. Sorry for any mistakes but I'm still not well and I'm still quite shaky and dizzy, even lying down. All I have to say on the topic of the most recent interview/spoilers is that he was avoiding the question and …that's not good.

Please enjoy this! :D

Disclaimer: I lay no claim on Tony and Ziva or any other part of the show NCIS.

(Not in the mood for somewhat witty remarks, I've got to save them for the story!)

This is dedicated to my cat Piper who I have recently started calling 'my ninja'. :D

---

"_You're **my** assassin Ziva, you're **my** partner, you're **my** friend and I am not letting you go back just so you can be another disposable assassin!" She heard Abby cry again and knew that he wouldn't let her be._

"_Tony, I am leaving and that is final. Good bye." She snapped her phone shut, ending the call._

"_Shit." She muttered._

---

Ziva zipped up her suitcase and stood it up next to the door of her apartment. She closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. She looked at her suitcase sitting there like it was no big deal, _because it isn't_.

_You are an assassin, disposable. You are leaving to serve your country._ One side thought

_Tony said tha—_

_Who cares what Tony says,_ it argued back_. You were born in Israel and if need be you will die there._

With an internal debate going on inside of her she slouched into her couch and laid her head back on the headrest. "Shut up!" She screamed at herself.

"Ziva," a voice said from behind the door. She immediately recognized it as Tony's.

"Tony, please for the last time I am leaving." She said, still sitting on her couch.

"Ziva, open the damn door."

"Why don't you pick the lock Tony, you are, after all the federal agent." She spat.

"I wanted to give you the choice Ziva because I know how hard it is to leave behind a family, to leave behind everyone you ever loved."

Her face hardened.

"Then why did you tell me to open the door."

"Because maybe, just maybe, I wanted to see you one last time before you went back to Israel and got yourself shot or blown up!"

"Tony," She got up. "I am not," she walked to the door. "Going to" she unlatched it. "Get myself" she unlocked it. "Blown up!" She swung the door open to see a less than DiNozzo quality Tony standing in the corridor. Ziva was shocked by her partner's appearance, he was still in the clothes he had been wearing the previous day, she'd obviously been so lost in her own world that it had been raining. _Did he walk here?_ She questioned herself. _Tony would never go outside looking like __**that**_.

"You do realize that leaving affects the rest of us right? Abby is crushed! Gibbs is letting us have the day off because of you, for all the wrong reasons!--" He towered above her but she didn't move or even flinch at his grand gestures emphasizing his point.

"Tony," she interrupted him. "I am leaving in **one** hour and I'd like that last hour before a fourteen hour flight to be relaxing and not a yelling match with you! Just leave!" She shoved him out the door and locked & latched it. She slid down the back of the door until she reached the floor where she began wiping the tears out of her eyes before they fell.

"Shit."

---

Tony sat on the other side of the door listening to her cry. It was the first time he had ever been the one to make her cry and it made him feel terrible.

---

One Hour Later.

---

_**Flight #67487 to Tel Aviv is open for boarding at gate 23. Flight #67487 to Tel Aviv is open for boarding at gate 23. **_

Ziva stood up with her carry on bag slung over her shoulder. _Finally._ The stress faded and she looked down at her boarding pass. _First Class._ She remembered the last time she flew to Israel she had been first class and how Tony—_ Stop right there before you turn back._

Ziva handed her boarding pass over to the young flight attendant and walked down the freezing corridor to the plane doors, collecting headphones, a blanket and a pillow as she went.

---

_God do I wish Ziva was driving right now. _Tony thought a he evaded near collisions on his way to the airport, it was five minutes before they were meant to board and he had just gotten into the car park. He slammed the door and ran through to the entrance.

Flashing his badge he got past security checkpoints until he reached the gate where he was greeted by a security guard just locking the doors to the corridor.

"Federal Agent, there's a suspected felon on that flight who I have been sent to arrest."

"And what department are you from sir?"

"NCIS so open up."

"I can' let you thr—"

"Bring it up with Agent Gibbs later but right now I have to get on that plane."

"Okay sir." He pulled out his intercom. "Open up the doors, there is a felon on that plane and an agent has come to get them, let him pass."

"Thank you."

Tony ran down the corridor at a dangerous pace. The attendants let him through and he jumped the stairs two at a time to get to first class.

He looked across each row until right down the back of the plane he saw Ziva looking out the window brushing the tears from her face.

---

She looked up at Tony as he stood at her row. "Thank you." She whispered as he took her hand and put the cuffs around her wrists, the smirked at each other. He held he hands behind her back as he escorted her off the plane then as they made their way into the corridor he unlocked to cuffs and flung her arms around his neck, sobbing into his shoulder. "Thank you Tony." He smoothed down her hair and pressed his lips to her forehead as she looked back up at him. He lowered his hands and re-clipped the cuffs.

"Why am I back in cuffs Tony?"

"Because, Zi-va Might not get another chance to have you in cuffs" He joked.

"Oh don't you worry about that Tony, you will get many more chances to see me in cuff." She shot back

"See this why I wouldn't let you leave, can't do this kinda stuff with McGeek."

"I would hope not." She said, grinning up at him. He lowered his head and his lips me hers. He heard a click and felt Ziva's arms snake around his neck as his went around her waist, pulling her closer. He pulled away first when oxygen made it's presence known. "I would certainly hope not." She said as he re-re-locked the cuffs.

A/N: THAT'S IT GUYS!! Sorry it took longer than expected but I've been really sick.

I originally didn't want it to be a 'happy ending' but I really couldn't help myself, I had had the cuffs bit stuck in my head all day!!!

Hope you liked it! I have two other NCIS stories called _Facebook Quizzes_ and _I'd Be Happy to Die for a Taste of what Angel Had _(both are one shots at the moment.)


End file.
